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    Arrow The Orb Steelworks, Newport - 22 Feb 09

    In 1895 John Lysaght decided to relocate his Iron works for wolverhampton to South Wales to meet rapidly increasing demands from the Australian market he was supplying. He bought the 100 acre Pill farm on the east bank of the river usk as the future sight of his new Orb Iron works its name was taken from the company's trademark of a blue Orb. The works opened in 1898 with a large part of its workforce following the company and moving from wolverhampton.

    By 1901 the iron works were producing 140,000 tons a year which wer shipped across the channel to Bristol for glavanising, its and its workforce had grown to 3,000. The company was taking its first steps into the production of electrical Steels a market the company hoped to corner. The first world war had a major impact on the factory's plans it's production was redirected into the prodcution of armour trence plate steel, helmets and shell cartridge brass, which severly impacted on the Orb's export market to Australia. Between the wars the works found a new market in the car industry and its demand for sheet steel the Orbs 72" mills were ablet to produce the thickest rolled steels in the world which were in great demand. When the second world war broke out in 39 the mill was back in war production producing rolled dualumin and stanless steel for aircraft airframes and cartridge brass shells for RAF fighter's . After the war the the Orb became part of The Steel Company of Wales Ltd. which was nationalised 1951 ending the Lysaght Family's involvement with their steelworks, It went on to become part of the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain which was privatised, Only to be renationalised as part of British Steel in 1967. By production at the now the Orb was was concentrated on Electrical Steels. British Steel was privatised in 1988 with the Orb emerging as a stand alone company Orb Electric Steel LTD, but it was soon bought up by the expanding European Electrical Steel group which itself was bought out by Cogent a wholly owned subsiduary of Corus which reunited the Orb with the rest of british steel.

    In 2008 corus embarked on a major modernisation plan for the Orb which included the sale of the oldest parts of the factory known as monkey island including the administration building's which were housed in Pill farm house which had survived since 1895, the training center and steel packaging plant. The remainder of the production buildings are in the midst of refit leaving the disused parts fenced off and awaiting the results of a planning application which would see them replaced by 500 houses.

    Visited with Immortal Owl while the site is being cleared, in the last of the cleared offices we found a copy of the Sport from the 20th of this month. Didnt think it was actually going to be that good but in a caged off area hidden away at the back of the offices we found an archive room which contained records some going back to the 1920's.

    The Admin offices in Pill farm shows the general condition of all the offices.


    HR office archives.


    The archive's






    The "Bruce Peebles" pipe detector


    The holy grail a flushing toilet with paper





















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    Default Re: The Orb Steelworks, Newport - 22 Feb 09

    That's great mate, a good report with excellent pictures. I like the filing cabinet shot.

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    Default Re: The Orb Steelworks, Newport - 22 Feb 09

    Mate, that's fecking awsome!! I am loving the detail on the bottom of the bog doors and the mains switchgear - some serious dial porn there Did you have a look through the records at all, they look fantastic! Top drawer stuff!

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    Default Re: The Orb Steelworks, Newport - 22 Feb 09

    There were so many it would have taken weeks to go through i had a quick flick through one or two but it was mostly chemistry reports and while i have a basic grasp of the steel making process it was just gobbidly gook to me.

    The best bits were the archive photo's and company history we found, full of little jems like I never knew that the Orb works football team went on to become Newport County FC.

    Or it was the first industrial site that the Queen (then princess Elizabeth) made an official visit to.

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    Default Re: The Orb Steelworks, Newport - 22 Feb 09

    That's great isn't it when you find out little bits like that! Some of the best slides and personal stuff I have is from the Templeborough steel works and it as all rescued from the skip!!

    Is there any chance of any of the pictures and stuff being saved by anyone for the record in this case?

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    Default Re: The Orb Steelworks, Newport - 22 Feb 09

    Quote Originally Posted by industry View Post
    That's great isn't it when you find out little bits like that! Some of the best slides and personal stuff I have is from the Templeborough steel works and it as all rescued from the skip!!

    Is there any chance of any of the pictures and stuff being saved by anyone for the record in this case?
    There might very well be ,

    oh and the various bits of porn hidden in lockers and tool draws was top notch as well

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    Default Re: The Orb Steelworks, Newport - 22 Feb 09

    what a fab place...great report and pictures mate

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    Default Re: The Orb Steelworks, Newport - 22 Feb 09

    Cool pics there
    The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never any use to oneself.

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    Smile Re: The Orb Steelworks, Newport - 22 Feb 09

    Great pics of a great looking site! That archive room is an ace find! I hope some of the stuff in there can be saved!

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    Default Re: The Orb Steelworks, Newport - 22 Feb 09

    Nice pics mate
    "God will forgive them. He'll forgive them, and allow them into heaven. I can't live with that."

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